Think Week #48

A Vision for Paid Subscriptions and Creative Compensation

The Essay is the Product

I have an idea to pitch to you.

Please bear with me while I ramble a bit. There could be holes in my proposal here, and I encourage you to tell me how stupid my great idea is.

Let’s start with this: I believe writers should be paid to write.

I've always believed "a great essay is a product."

We don't need to rely solely on courses, private communities, consulting, etc. to monetize our brains. These vehicles are great, but words alone still have value.

What’s floating around in my brain feels a little weird.

That’s why it just might work.

I'm considering turning on paid subscriptions for Indie Thinkers, charging $10 a month, or even $5, to get more people involved and lower the barrier of entry. I'd use 100% of the subscription revenue to pay writers for original long-form essays.

I know $10 isn't a lot in the U.S., especially for technologists in California, where I'm writing this. But in other countries, it might be a bit much. You could do a lot with 10 U.S. dollars in many parts of the world, and I am cognizant of that. I want this to be inclusive, so I don't want to charge more.

We'd publish once a week, and whatever money comes in would pay each writer.

It would be a lottery instead of a contest. A competition would be interesting, but it would be hard to pick winners. There are so many writers I admire.

If it were a lottery, chance would decide.

If it's transparent and people trust me and the process, maybe it could work.

Here's what I'm considering: what if I seeded the lottery to be $250 a week? That's a thousand dollars a month out of my pocket. I want to put my money where my mouth is. My goal is to see if I can get the community to match my $1000.

That’s 100 subscribers paying $10 a month.

Then we’d be able to pay one writer $500 a week, which is the goal.

If we’re fortunate enough to generate a ton of revenue, additional funds would support additional writers at $500 an essay.

My commitment: If the community is on board, I'm prepared to sustain this $1,000/month for at least one year, regardless of subscription growth.

If circumstances change, I'll give the community three months' notice to either find alternative funding or wind down gracefully. The goal is to build something sustainable that eventually runs on subscription revenue alone.

This doesn't include paying artists for illustrations.

I'm still thinking of other ways to fund that.

Payment Infrastructure

One important consideration is managing the money. I'd use Substack for paid subscriptions, but then route funds to Open Collective.

I appreciate their transparency, which is critical to earn and retain community trust.

People could contribute directly to Open Collective, but there are trade-offs. Open Collective is a platform where people don't have their credit cards hooked up. There’s some friction here. It's far easier for people to subscribe to a paid newsletter on Substack. Additionally, more paid subscribers on Substack would increase the publication's visibility, creating a flywheel effect benefiting the community.

I like using Substack as the funnel for a "writers fund," and then leveraging Open Collective to transparently pay contributors.

The weekly writer payments would run through Open Collective for everyone to see. I'd handle tax reporting (e.g 1099s for U.S. writers) and work with Open Collective to ensure smooth international payments where possible.

Balancing Fairness with Quality

Here's how I envision the lottery working:

Basic Requirements:

• Must be an Indie Thinkers subscriber (free or paid - paid doesn't increase odds)

• Must have an active newsletter or blog with at least 6 published posts in the last 6 months

• Can only win once every 6 months (ensuring broader distribution)

• Must commit to delivering an essay within 2 weeks of selection

• Eligible topics would include but aren’t limited to: technology, business, future-of-work, personal development, productivity, culture, philosophy, art, and design

• Non-fiction essays only

The Selection Process:

1. Weekly random drawing from eligible writers

2. The selected writer has 48 hours to accept and propose their essay topic

3. If they decline or can't deliver, we redraw

4. Writers submit the first draft within 14 days for light editorial review (not gatekeeping, just ensuring completeness)

5. Payment upon publication

Quality Assurance:

• Essays must be original, long-form work (1,200+ words)

• Basic editorial support provided (not to judge, but to help polish)

• If a selected writer can't deliver, they remain eligible for future drawings

• Must be previously unpublished work

• No AI-generated content (human-written with AI editing tools acceptable)

• Includes proper citations for any referenced sources

• Aligns with Indie Thinkers' values (no hate speech, misinformation, etc.)

Outstanding Questions

Marketing and Growth: I'm unsure how to market this subscription model besides running sponsorships in bigger newsletters. How do I get the word out? If everyone says, "This is a good idea. You should do it," how do I let people know this exists?

My initial thoughts:

• Start with our existing community

• Feature each paid writer's story

• Encourage selected writers to bring their audiences

• Run targeted sponsorships in aligned newsletters

• Document the entire experiment publicly

I'm in it for the long haul. I'm happy to put up a thousand dollars a month as "seed funding" for another year, if needed, without making money off it. This isn't about profit; it's about creating a sustainable model for compensating writers.

Alright, I'm done rambling. Let me know your thoughts.

What am I missing? What could make this stronger? Would you support?

— Daniel

P.S. New domain, who dis?